I totally agree. Can I prove it? No. Do I care? No. It's working for me.

That is what has kept my dad and his nearly vegan wife from getting on my case about the (to them) cringe-worthy amount of fats my husband and I have been eating recently. They can't dispute the leaps and bounds of progress in my health and my husband has noticeably slimmed down.

FWIW - My inlaws breed and raise dogs and decided that they would try making their own w/o any fillers, using just meat and veggies. One of the dogs had been having seizures and these stopped right away and never came back.

FWIW - My inlaws breed and raise dogs and decided that they would try making their own w/o any fillers, using just meat and veggies. One of the dogs had been having seizures and these stopped right away and never came back.

That's awesome.

I had a friend who had a dog with epilepsy and I used to feel so sorry for that poor dog. At least, as a person you sort of understand what is happening to you. It got so bad he had to put his dog down.

I just wanted to let you how great it is to see you writing about this. When I was on the MAD diet and going off my meds (2007) there were no sites for adults for this kind of diet. The only sites were for parents of kids and no in depth info on Ketogenic diets anywhere. No doctors, beyond Dr. Kosoff at Johns Hopkins, knew about it, so I was pretty much on my own.

I've been off MAD now and back on Tegretol for a few years and need to back on it for my health. I really did feel better and I need to lose the weight I've gained.

It's good to see you making progress with reducing the meds. The end is in sight! I'll be checking back often.

I just wanted to let you how great it is to see you writing about this. When I was on the MAD diet and going off my meds (2007) there were no sites for adults for this kind of diet. The only sites were for parents of kids and no in depth info on Ketogenic diets anywhere. No doctors, beyond Dr. Kosoff at Johns Hopkins, knew about it, so I was pretty much on my own.

I've been off MAD now and back on Tegretol for a few years and need to back on it for my health. I really did feel better and I need to lose the weight I've gained.

It's good to see you making progress with reducing the meds. The end is in sight! I'll be checking back often.

Jan
Gardengal

Thanks, Jan. Your input is most welcome. Let us know how things go if you decide to make a change. I had awful side effects from Tegretol but I guess every body is different in how they react to those things.

You're right that so much of the early research was all about pediatric epilepsy. Doctors still don't really see the point in trying nutritional therapy as long as the pills are working.

just providing an update...to summarize, i had my first seizure at age 27 (in 2006). Initially i would get about 1 seizure a year. In the past 2 years they increased in frequency, about one a month and always during sleep. I started keeping a calendar of my seizures and my periods for the past 2 years (also colds, etc). I did begin taking meds in Oct 2012. It did stop the seizures for several months, but then they started again in the Spring....and they were happening at ovulation (2 weeks before my period) and not during sleep any longer. To me this is pretty consistent with hormonal fluctuations. Anyway, I went to my neuro and we upped the dose for now. So far so good, no seizures in over a month. But I am on a mission to try to figure out what triggers them and if there are other ways of keeping the seizures at bay. But I am grateful to have my calendar log for 2+ years now; I can refer back to it and see trends.

just providing an update...to summarize, i had my first seizure at age 27 (in 2006). Initially i would get about 1 seizure a year. In the past 2 years they increased in frequency, about one a month and always during sleep. I started keeping a calendar of my seizures and my periods for the past 2 years (also colds, etc). I did begin taking meds in Oct 2012. It did stop the seizures for several months, but then they started again in the Spring....and they were happening at ovulation (2 weeks before my period) and not during sleep any longer. To me this is pretty consistent with hormonal fluctuations. Anyway, I went to my neuro and we upped the dose for now. So far so good, no seizures in over a month. But I am on a mission to try to figure out what triggers them and if there are other ways of keeping the seizures at bay. But I am grateful to have my calendar log for 2+ years now; I can refer back to it and see trends.

Hi kiks,
Refresh my memory. You were trying the ketosis method, right? Have you logged that wrt your seizure activity?

Hi Paleobird,
I forgot to mention that i started paleo a year ago now. Before i started the paleo way of eating, i was 30lbs heavier and i had a lot of brain fog in the previous 2 years. I needed to do something and that's when i came across this website. So I became proactive and started watching what i ate, and making sure i was sleeping well. I lost the weight and also my brain fog went away! I have been able to maintain the weight loss. And yes, i guess i was doing a ketogenic type of eating...i haven't been totally diligent with it, but what i put in my body is a million times better than before. I do track what i eat on the LoseIt app and have been tracking for over a year.
I am so grateful that the brain fog went away...also for the weight loss as well. Now i am slowly trying to increase my body strength...but more importantly, i am trying to figure out what may be triggering the seizures, since they have been happening at ovulation. Hopefully this med dosage works better.

One thing I found out was a trigger for me was alcohol. I could get a way with any one time having a few drinks but, when I had several of those in a row (new boyfriend, everything was a special occasion) like 3 or 4 nights in a week and, bam! I had a seizure.

I wonder how much of this was the alcohol itself and how much of it was being knocked out of ketosis ("special" dinners with desserts, etc.)

I've decided to go completely booze free.

Also completely caffeine free, not even decaf which still has some caffeine and, since I tend to drink it by the pot not the cup, it adds up. I've been drinking Teeccino lately and really like it.

i have drastically reduced my alcohol consumption in the past year or two. Now i might have a glass a wine or a bottle of light beer, and it adds up to no more than 3-4 a month, no hard liquor at all. (Before i could drink anyone under the table).
I have never been a big coffee drinker; i do love the flavor but i avoid it because the caffeine affects me so much. I do have teechino and i'll make a pot if i have an urge for coffee flavor, but that really is less than once a month.

But every now and then i do cheat and have a dessert, and that probably knocks me out of ketosis i'm thinking...i know a few times that i had seizures, the day before i did crave and eat sweets.